Self-Publishing — Is It Right for You?

"Are you going to self-publish?" "Did you know you can put your book on Amazon and sell it?" "Why are you wasting time trying to get an agent if you can just do it yourself?"

If you're pursuing traditional publication and you aren't a runaway success story, you've probably had well-meaning friends and relatives ask you about self-publishing (I know I have!). It can sometimes be tough to explain your reasoning when it's taking years to make forward progress.

One very good reason? Self-publishing the right way, to give yourself the best chance of success, is expensive. Author Susanne Dunlap published a blog post this week that breaks down the costs, including cover design, editing, and social media marketing.

Distribution can be an issue, too. If you've always dreamed of seeing your work in the checkout line at Target or at the Scholastic Book Fair, you'll have a much better shot if you publish traditionally.

Of course, the decision between self and traditional publishing is largely dependent on your goals. Do you want to make a career out of writing, or are you happy if it's something you do on the side around your day job? Do you enjoy and/or are you good at marketing yourself? (It's important to note, though, that traditional publishers expect their authors to carry a good chunk of the marketing load themselves these days too.)

Here are some good resources for researching the pros and cons of self-publishing:

Writer's Digest — The Pros and Cons of Self Publishing (& Traditional Publishing)

NY Book Editors — TRADITIONAL OR SELF-PUBLISH: WHAT’S BEST FOR YOU?

Business Know-How — Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Publishing

Authors are Marketers, Too

I was talking to an acquaintance at a party recently who mentioned that she also wrote books. She said she was pursuing traditional publication so she could "just concentrate on the writing, not all that marketing stuff."

I said something polite, but internally I was thinking about all the traditionally published authors I know who are constantly working on their marketing. Some of it, like doing market research or coming up with a synopsis to sell the book to a publisher, isn't visible to people on the outside. But most authors I see are also hard at work on improving their social media presence, doing blog tours, and in person appearances like school visits and book signings.

(Agent Jessica Faust has an excellent blog post on this topic here.)

The writer's conferences I've attended have been eye-opening, too. Many authors sign up as faculty for these conferences, not because they get paid extremely well (they don't, trust me on this), but at least in part because it raises their visibility and gives them a chance to network with other industry professionals and aspiring writers.

The bottom line is that anyone who thinks they can just write a book and forget about it immediately in this day and age is probably in for a very rude awakening. Publishers and authors form a marketing team, and an author who's willing and eager to pull his or her weight is going to look far more attractive than the alternative.

The "You Have to Know Someone" Myth

If you've been pursuing traditional publication for a while, you've probably heard it over and over again from well-meaning friends and family: you can't break into the publishing industry unless you're well connected, unless you "know someone."

While this may be true in other arenas (screenwriting, I'm looking at you), it's definitely not the case in publishing. I have many friends who have agents and book deals. About half of them got their agents by sending a query to an agent they'd never met, just like everyone else. A few more were signed through online contests—again, by agents they'd never met or interacted with.

The rest got their agents by attending conferences where they pitched something in person. While technically this means they knew their agent before signing, anyone can go to these conferences and pitch agents. There's no mystical connection, no mysterious foot in the door.

(For a more extensive survey, check out this great post from To the Shelves.)

If you're having trouble getting an agent or publisher interested in your fiction, I can say with 100% certainty that it isn't because of your lack of connections. It's far more likely that your writing or presentation aren't up to their standards, or the subject simply isn't one in which they have interest.

Debunking the myth that you have to be connected to get published is good news for aspiring authors. If you write a good book, craft a decent query letter, and do your research on agents who might be a good fit, you have just as much of a chance of getting published as everyone else.